Destin Beach Photographer - Rainy Days and Mondays

When you awake to loud claps of thunder, it’s a pretty good sign that the day is getting a stormy start. It’s typically not a good sign for a beach photographer. But then again, it’s Florida, and weather changes here on a dime. That’s southern-speak for “on a moment’s notice” and, (off-topic) how do those sayings get started anyway?

These rainy days and Mondays are really my favorites, though. I love getting other things done during rained-out times - as long as they don’t stretch on out to Wednesday or Friday! That’s a bit much.

On this particular Monday, things were not looking promising for a photo shoot. My sweet client began texting me, early, to see what I thought about the weather. And that’s hard for them, because they haven’t seen the weather change so quickly — and as often — as I have. In Florida, we know to give the weather a minute, because it will likely change!

Honestly, the stormy weather does create some amazing drama in the skies - and it’s often more beautiful to photograph as a backdrop in family beach portraits.

The clouds can do some incredible things to enhance the outcome in photos.

In fact, I’ll take a cloudy day, ANY day, over a blue sky with zero clouds. Those clear days are the most difficult to shoot in, by far. The light is harsh, strong, and relentless. The outcome is predictable, and the overall ambience of the photos is stark, until the last fleeting moments of the sinking sun. About ten minutes of glorious light exists with the setting sun on a clear blue afternoon. When that happens, we make the most of it and shoot away!

On this day, the clouds did bring us a rain shower about 15 minutes into the shoot — and lucky for all 12 of us — someone left their broken tent on the beach, and it was perfect (very cozy) shelter for us during the 20 minutes it took for the rain to move on. We played “I Spy” and made the best of it!

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See how the skies in these images are the perfect compliment to this family beach session?We all loved how the "bad weather" worked so good, in this wonderful family memory!